Today was just about food. We thought we’d see the World Heritage Listed Old Town. So back along the familiar route along Lebuh Lintang between Komtar and Prangin. We stop for breakfast at Roti Bakar Hutton Lane. The roti bakar I had was like garlic bread with soft egg on top. The others had nasi lemak in banana leaves.
It’s not enough. B buys some unfried keropok (fish and prawn crackers) for cooking at home, then we return down Lebuh Tamil, where Alex and I eat roti canai and roti pisang at the same shop as before. It’s one of the best.
We then wander through Chowrasta Market, buying pickled mango and nutmeg, but nothing from the nearby food stalls.
We head down Lebuh Campbell, turning right into Lebuh Cintra. There lies the restaurant the B was named over, her mother dining there the day before she was born. But it is permanently closed now. Hardly surprising considering the state of it during our last visit, but a piece of family history gone now.
Opposite is the Tai Tong restaurant which seems to be very popular, serving yum cha. B decides that she wants yum cha, despite our already bloated states.
We only order radish cakes, prawn dumplings and egg tarts.
Making our way from Lebuh Campbell to Chulia Street, we pass other old shop houses. Traditionally their fronts are open without doors, only metal lattice shutters when they close.
Some have been converted to purposes, glass fronts added to house trendy cafes, including one where huskies stared out mournfully at the many visitors outside the closed shop.
Others still function as shops, selling hardware, photocopy services, snacks and sundries. Some only seem partly open, elderly owners snoozing inside their darkened interiors.
We make it as far as the Kapitan Keling Mosque before deciding it was too hot and we should go back. We’ve been further before, it’s real tourist country.
Almost retracing our steps, enough time has passed that Alex is hungry and we duck into another small kopitiam for char kuey teow. Except they get the order wrong and give us “carrot cake” (Fried white radish chunks) instead, which is better anyway.
Back at the hotel we rest and nap for while. I have a swim in the pool to try to burn off all the food.
B wants more bak kit teh, “in a restaurant” and finds Khoon Klang Bak Kut Teh out in the suburbs in Jelutong. Waiting a few minutes gets us a cheaper Grab.
The verdict is that dry bak kut teh isn’t as good as the soup version and that Khoon Klang’s soup version isn’t as good as last night’s.
There were more convenient places nearby.
Near the restaurant are busy food stalls open for the evening. I’m still quite full from early in the day, but I order some otah-otah (grilled/steamed spicy fish paste in a banana leaf). The others are definitely too full.
A Grab returns us to the hotel, but B wants to explore more. We walk up Jalan Macallister, across a highly pedestrian unfriendly set of pedestrian crossings (way too much traffic priority) towards the Sunway Hotel where we stayed last time.
There’s a busy night market going on, but the prices are definitely tourist class. I recognise the Charcoal Char Kuey Teow cook from last time: He has a very long queue.
Too expensive, too full for more food
Nearby, the durian outlets are also more expensive and B goes without.
A beautiful sunset threatens to change into storms as a dark grey cloud approaches. We hurry back to the hotel, play some table tennis on the recreation level, and are back in the room before the heavens open.
I’m hungry again.
